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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24443797">i will defend your every breath</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/mjscorner/pseuds/mjscorner'>mjscorner</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>biodad tony [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Additional Warnings Apply, Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Avengers Compound, Avengers Family, Comfort, Comfort/Angst, Domestic Avengers, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt, Hurt Peter Parker, Hurt Wanda Maximoff, Hurt/Comfort, Marvel Universe, Not Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Not Spider-Man: Homecoming Compliant, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Whump, Peter Parker is Tony Stark's Biological Child, Protective Avengers, Protective Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, Teen Peter Parker, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Virus, Wanda Maximoff &amp; Peter Parker Friendship</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 09:41:31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>15,737</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24443797</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/mjscorner/pseuds/mjscorner</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"Are you implying that Secretary Ross forced you to make the Prism Virus with the intent to use it against enhanced individuals?" Rhodey asked cautiously, his repulsor ray still raised in a looming threat. "Enhanced individuals such as The Avengers?"</p><p>Tony's heart sank at the words. </p><p>Peter.</p><p>His blood boiled at the implications.</p><p>Ross.</p><p>"Do you have any idea," Mallon laughed dryly, "how easily this stuff can be turned into a weapon? How easily this could kill Steve Rogers? Scarlet Witch? Spider-Man?"</p><p> </p><p>WARNING: vivid descriptions of a deadly virus. with everything going on, i implore you to think carefully before reading if this will trigger you in any way &lt;3</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Peter Parker &amp; Tony Stark</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>biodad tony [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1911622</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>229</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. i will defend your every breath</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>DON'T IGNORE THIS NOTE!!!!!<br/>this work has VIVID DESCRIPTIONS of a fictional yet DEADLY VIRUS. this work is based loosely on the episode of psych about the Thornburg virus. if you think this will trigger you in ANY WAY AT ALL, i implore you not to sink your teeth into this one.<br/>anyways i'm not really sure what this is tbh. with everything going on, i just kinda wanted an escape just for a sec so i whipped this up.<br/>also peter is tony's son. idk why. hope you enjoy &lt;3</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>They’d been debriefed on the mission before takeoff in the quinjet.</p><p>Jacob Mallon. Mad scientist. Desperately in need of hair plugs or a toupee of some kind judging from his photos but that was neither here nor there. What mattered about him was the deadly biological agent he was cooking up in his private lab upstate.</p><p>They called it the Prism Virus. Apparently it was able to distort and break down the human body just the same as a prism could refract and disperse light, whatever that meant. </p><p>Honestly, Tony didn’t do as much research on the mission as he usually would because this was Peter’s fifth mission on the team.</p><p>It had been six months since Peter had been bitten by that spider, and life had been turned completely upside down for the Starks. Tony and Peter had fought, cried for each other, screamed, begged. The end result was his son becoming the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man of the streets of New York City, though not until he was covered head to toe in a multimillion-dollar suit, completely encapsulated in Stark technology no matter where he swung.</p><p>Peter hadn't seemed to be upset about it at all. Tony hated that he knew it was because Peter was still just a kid. He still needed a safety net to fall into no matter how often he insisted he could handle those things on his own. Luckily, Tony's ache to protect his kid fulfilled that need just fine.</p><p>Truth be told, he didn't care if Peter liked it or not. Tony was just lucky to have a kid as understanding and perceptive and <em>brilliant</em> as Peter was. He would protect Peter no matter how radioactive his blood was or how book smart he claimed to be. Peter was still the most important thing in Tony's entire life, his most valuable possession. Peter was still his baby.</p><p>And God, he didn’t want his son to be an Avenger. Peter was his everything, he was all Tony ever had. He didn’t want Peter involved or intertwined with any Avengers business, didn’t want him to even <em>be</em> an Avenger, but when his kid got bit by a radioactive spider and began frolicking the streets of New York City in his spare time, Tony decided it would be best that, if Peter were to become a superhero, he did it under Tony’s jurisdiction and abided by Tony’s rules.</p><p>So, this was Peter’s fifth mission on the team. For the past four missions, Peter had been forced to stay on the quinjet and was told very vehemently that he was only to leave unless Tony called for backup. </p><p>If Tony called his own son for backup during a fight, Peter would know things were bad. That’s why Tony made the circumstances of Peter’s participation so unrealistic.</p><p>Bruce had been the one to take the lead on the mission debriefing. His thorough description of the Prism Virus nearly convinced Tony not to bring Peter along at all, primarily upon hearing about the virus's notorious ability to make its victims bleed from their eyes. After Mallon had created it in his lab, eight cases had been confirmed in the country the same week, each case in critical condition, and it became evident that Mallon wasn’t intending to weaponize it, but was simply the wrong person to be its keeper.</p><p>So, Mallon had struck up a deal. He told the president that he wanted a vial of the anti-viral in exchange for all the Prism Virus that he had created.</p><p>Tony wasn’t sure if perhaps Mallon had contracted the Prism Virus himself or if someone he loved had, but either way the Avengers were faced with a dilemma. There wasn’t much anti-viral to go around in the country. It was being produced as quickly as possible in Wakanda, but America was in remarkably short supply and could only keep its patients alive by a thread with the little it had. They were forced to acquire only a couple of ounces in order to isolate the threat of the virus and participate in Mallon's twisted exchange.</p><p>With a sigh, Tony turned over his shoulder as he sat at the head of the quinjet and stared over at his son. The entire team hadn't actually come on this particular mission, seeing as it was a simple exchange of goods. Peter was talking to Bruce, his hands waving about in the air as he tried to get his point across. Bruce was listening intently, taking in the kid's every word with interest and a fond, genuine smile. Across from them sat Wanda and Vision, watching them converse with the same expressions of adoration.</p><p>Tony loved that about the team, loved that about his son. He could wash away every concern and angst held in one's heart and hypnotize them with his words and bizarre ideas. More than that, though, Peter was able to make the team feel like a legitimate family. They would always say that they were a family, but of course, they had their differences.</p><p>But not around Peter.</p><p>"Alright, here we go."</p><p>Tony was shaken from his thoughts as he turned his attention back to the head of the jet. Rhodey was steering them toward the ground, the trees around the empty patch of grass they had deemed a landing zone bending in protest to the blast of the jet's roaring engine. The threat of rain loomed above as water shook from the leaves of the branches.</p><p>"And...we're here," Rhodey said rather unceremoniously with a sigh, rising from his seat as he made his way to the mouth of the jet. "Everyone knows their objectives?"</p><p>"Vis and I will stand guard outside of the lab," Wanda said with a nod, making determined eye contact with her counterpart. He smiled down at her, enamored in a way Tony was still stunned he could possess. </p><p>"Pete and I will stay on the plane," Bruce said begrudgingly, nudging Peter's arm with a sheepish smile. Peter simply sent a glare Tony's way, though he couldn't hold it for long once Tony sent a wink his way.</p><p>"And Tones and I will handle the exchange," Rhodey nodded, turning to the wall of the ship as a War Machine suit disengaged from its hatch and unfolded for Rhodey. Tony simply double tapped his arc reactor, the nanotech materializing around him. Rhodey scoffed, the helmet of his suit snapping shut as he shook his head and began walking down the ramp of the ship.</p><p>"Still pissed that you haven't done that for me yet."</p><p>"One of us has to be cooler than the other. You know that."</p><p>"Dad! Wait."</p><p>Tony turned over his shoulder, waving for Wanda, Vision, and Rhodey to go on ahead as the faceplate of his suit unfolded to make eye contact with his son. Peter was biting his lip nervously and fiddling with his mask in his hands.</p><p>"Are you-are you <em>sure </em>you don't want me to come along? Just this once?"</p><p>"Sorry, squirt," Tony's gloved hand unfolded so that he could ruffle his kid's hair. "We don't know the properties of the virus. Can't roll the dice on you being exposed." </p><p>Peter frowned but understood. He swallowed thickly before he was suddenly crashing forward and wrapping his arms around his dad, squeezing him as tight as possible. Tony knew that, if Peter really wanted to, he could keep Tony there for good, though he also knew that Peter would never use his powers against his father unless he absolutely had to.</p><p>"Just, uh...be careful, please? The virus thing, it sounds scary. Don't-don't-"</p><p>"Shh, hey-"</p><p>"-don't take your suit off no matter what. I don't want you catching it. Promise?"</p><p>Tony melted for a moment, leaning forward and cupping the back of Peter's head as he brought his kid in for a kiss on the temple. Peter closed his eyes with a steadying exhale at the gesture, leaning into the warmth. </p><p>"Knock it off, Petey. Yeah? I love you."</p><p>"Y-yeah," Peter nodded, untangling himself from Tony and watching longingly as he left the ship. "I love-I love you too."</p><p>The mouth of the ship closed. Peter watched with an unquenchable hunger as the ones he loved walked into battle.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>"FRIDAY, scan for any concealed traps, would you?"</p><p>"<em>Yes, sir, I have located</em>-"</p><p>Rhodey took a step forward in the long, seemingly never-ending hallway before them. His step triggered a trap as three arrows suddenly shot from the side of the wall. Tony and Rhodey jumped out of the way and raised their repulsors before they could be hit.</p><p>"-<em>...quite a few concealed traps within the confines of this hallway</em>."</p><p>"Yeah, thanks, FRI."</p><p>"Jesus," Rhodey scoffed. "This guy is nuts. What kinda middle-aged white dude just keeps a whole ass lab in the woods?"</p><p>"<em>Boss, those arrows were laced with the Prism Virus. I advise that you keep your suit on at all times</em>."</p><p>"Oh. Well, that's...terrifying, but clever. Thanks for the tip."</p><p>"<em>Anytime</em>."</p><p>"<em>What did she say they were laced with</em>?!"</p><p>Tony stopped walking as the second voice filtered into his comms. He tilted his head with a frown.</p><p>"Pete?"</p><p>"<em>Yeah, I hacked into this channel. Now, answer my question, Dad.</em>"</p><p>"Dammit. What did I tell you about hacking into channels, kid? You could crash all of our comms and blow the mission."</p><p>"<em>No, I wouldn't. Are you kidding? You know I wouldn't. You made me smart, so, I don't really see how this could be my fault</em>."</p><p>Tony snickered despite himself, continuing his not-so-stealthy walk forward with an enamored smile. In complete honesty, his laid-back strides almost made him forget he was even on a mission as his son's voice hypnotized and puppeteered his every move.</p><p>"I didn't make you smart. That's all you, buddy."</p><p>"You two can kiss and make up later or whatever," Rhodey huffed, gesturing his head ahead to a double door. "Just picked up a heat signature coming from in there. Let's move."</p><p>"Got it. Bye, kiddo. Stay on the jet, or I'll shoot your dog."</p><p>"<em>You won't </em>buy <em>me a dog-"</em></p><p>Tony shut the channel off before Peter could protest any longer.</p><p>He followed Rhodey carefully, both nodding to each other. They read each other through the eyes of their helmets as Rhodey held up the cooler with the antivirus before Tony was lightly shoving the double doors open, immediately unnerved by the terrible sound of someone retching on the ground. </p><p>A sweat-soaked, pasty-skinned Mallon was hunched over a countertop. The room was divided into two parts, separated by a wall of protective glass. Tony and Rhodey were on one side, Mallon the other. He was digging through a rectangular bucket filled to the brim with pill bottles. The scientist would wrap his clammy, shaky hands around them and read them sluggishly before tossing them over his shoulder with an agonized whimper. </p><p>"Lookin' for this?"</p><p>Mallon jumped, turning over his shoulder with a raspy gasp as he met their gazes with wide, red-rimmed eyes, his mouth slightly parted as a layer of snot rested on his cupid's bow. Tony and Rhodey visibly flinched at the sight of the man, taking him up and down as disgust flooded every instinct.</p><p>"Tones," Rhodey warned, holding an arm out protectively in front of Tony. "This guy's infected, man."</p><p>Tony turned back to face Mallon with uneasiness. The man's eyes were bloodshot as they stared back at Tony's.</p><p>Well, that was an understatement. Mallon's irises were brown, but they were surrounded with a ring of blood. He looked possessed as he stared feverishly at the iron-clad men before him, eyes finally landing on the cooler in Rhodey's hand.</p><p>"Give it to me," Mallon stumbled toward the glass, pointing frantically at the cooler as he crossed to an opening in the glass, a perfect window through which they could trade the antivirus for the virus itself. "Now!"</p><p>"Woah, woah, woah," Tony and Rhodey both held their hands up at that, backing away despite the obvious glass shield of a wall before them. </p><p>"We know why you did this, man," Rhodey started carefully. "We know you were planning on mass-producing the virus here to save your lab. Well, that's not gonna happen, alright?"</p><p>"We're gonna do a little switcheroo," Tony translated. "The virus for the cure. Seems pretty reasonable, no?"</p><p>"That wasn't why," Mallon shook his head. "You think I...you think all of it was for my lab?"</p><p>Mallon let out another cough, ripping his throat raw. His words came out unchecked, unfiltered. Tony and Rhodey exchanged quick, uneasy glances.</p><p>"When they shut me down, they left you, me, and the entire country wide open."</p><p>"Who're you talking about?"</p><p>"I didn't create this...this <em>beast</em> of my own free will. Thaddeus Ross-he <em>made </em>me do this. He made me."</p><p>"Woah, woah, wait," Rhodey scoffed, holding his hands up. "Secretary Ross? He forced you to make the virus? Why?"</p><p>"Control the actions of enhanced individuals," Mallon said under his breath, barely audible to the two on the opposite side of the glass. Mallon barked out a laugh as he swayed a bit in place, eventually crashing into the side of the countertop again and steadying himself against it. "Control the actions of enhanced individuals. That's the American dream, at least for him."</p><p>"Are you implying that Secretary Ross forced you to make the Prism Virus with the intent to use it against enhanced individuals?" Rhodey asked, almost as if he were reporting the information. "Enhanced individuals such as The Avengers?"</p><p>Tony's heart sank at the words. </p><p><em>Peter, Peter, Peter</em>.</p><p>His blood <em>boiled </em>at the implications.</p><p>
  <em>Ross, Ross, Ross.</em>
</p><p>"Do you have any idea," Mallon laughed again dryly, reaching a trembling hand across the counter and latching it onto a small, red cooler. "how <em>easily</em> this stuff can be turned into a weapon? How easily this could destroy Steve Rogers? Scarlet Witch? Spider-Man?"</p><p>Tony suddenly, instinctively, lifted his hand, the sound of his repulsor ray whirring to life and echoing around the walls of the lab. </p><p>"Enough chit-chat. The virus for the cure. Now."</p><p>"Those civilians don't stand a chance. Eight cases in the US? Eight <em>deaths </em>in the US. Mine will be one of them, you wait and see. But after this? We'll be ready."</p><p>"I won't say it again," Tony cautioned, more venom in his tone than the Prism virus could carry in a single vial. "Hand over your little super-soldier exterminator or I'll blast your head off your body and kill you before the Prism can."</p><p>"Easy, Tones."</p><p>Mallon's lip tugged up into a smirk, not once taking his red-rimmed, blood-filled eyes off of the two as he stumbled toward the window. He held the cooler in his hand still, waiting skittishly as Rhodey crossed over to the window with the cooler of his own. </p><p>"Same time."</p><p>Mallon nodded frantically, reaching the cooler through the opening in the glass and reaching hungrily for the cooler in Rhodey's iron fist.</p><p>"Don't touch me, man."</p><p>Mallon snatched the cooler right out of Rhodey's hand. He stumbled back to the countertop on his side of the glass, wrenching it open feverishly. Rhodey crossed to the countertop behind him, opening the cooler a crack and ensuring that the contents inside were legitimate.</p><p>"Tony? Rhodes?"</p><p>The men in question turned over their shoulder on a dime at Wanda's small voice, deflating in relief at the sight of both her and Vision. They stood in the threshold of the lab, their eyes scanning the room in confusion.</p><p>"You turned your channel off, Stark," Vision explained.</p><p>"Thought you could use some back-up."</p><p>"Thanks," Tony breathed, though he had more important thoughts fresh on his mind as he crossed to the two in the doorway, his voice a hushed whisper. "You didn't see Peter out there, did you? I mean, he's still on the jet?"</p><p>"Well-"</p><p>"Dad."</p><p>Tony jumped once more as Peter appeared behind Wanda and Vision, his mask covering his face though his posture and disposition read concern and angst as the eyes of his mask found the eyes of Tony's. </p><p>"Peter, get <em>out </em>of here."</p><p>"Dad, just listen, okay? There's something wrong. My senses have been-"</p><p>"Yeah, that wouldn't surprise me. You don't understand what's going on here, okay? You've gotta go."</p><p>"But Dad-"</p><p>"Peter, I'm not asking. There are Prism-laced weapons concealed all over this place. We don't know what could trigger them."</p><p>"Yes, but-"</p><p>"This is all you got?" Rhodey said from behind, raising the one vial of Prism Virus out of its cooler carefully. The red liquid of the vial sloshed a bit in its container as Rhodey lifted it into the light. "C'mon, man. There's gotta be more somewhere. We aren't leaving here without it."</p><p>"If you've got more, don't think we won't tear this place down trying to find it," Tony warned, stepping toward the glass. He looked Mallon up and down hesitantly, unable to hold a stare for too long as the possibility of Peter in Mallon's fever-ridden state tattooed itself to his brain.</p><p>"That right there," Mallon said from his position hunched over the countertop, raising a trembling hand to point at the virus in Rhodey's grasp, "is enough to take out at least five Captain Americas."</p><p>"What did he say?" Wanda said in horror, walking past Tony with a furrowed brow as she stared at Mallon in disgust. </p><p>She took one more step. A click resounded about their side of the room. Three arrows were shooting out of the wall across from Wanda, racing toward her.</p><p>"Wanda!"</p><p>Peter didn't have to think. He didn't need to. Time moved by in slow motion as his senses took the wheel before he was lurching forward, past Tony and Vision, crashing into Wanda and sending them both plunging toward the ground.</p><p>The arrows connected with the opposite wall, their targets missed by a hair.</p><p>"Holy shit," Rhodey breathed out, a wide-eyed gaze darting between the arrows embedded in the wall and the teenaged kids lying sprawled on the ground, quickly helped to their feet by Vision. "Holy shit, what the hell just happened?"</p><p>"Prism-laced arrows," Mallon said from the other side of the glass, a sickly-sweet smirk tugging on his lip. "They sure work a treat."</p><p>"Stark," Vision said, a dark expression falling over his face as he raised a finger to point at the arrows lodged into the wall. Tony, still in shock, numbly followed the path of his finger, his heart stilling almost completely in his chest.</p><p>Blood was spattered next to one of the arrows secured in the wall. Tony's gaze shifted immediately to Peter as he watched his son rise from the ground and attempt to check Wanda over though he instantly hissed in pain, reaching a hand up to his arm.</p><p>"Peter?" Wanda's eyes grew wide as she raised a gentle hand up to take Peter's hand. "Were you hit?"</p><p>"Peter," Tony started, making to step forward though he stopped dead in his tracks as Peter jumped back instinctively, raising a hand out in defense.</p><p>"No, don't come any closer!"</p><p>Everyone in the room froze at Peter's demand, staring at him in anticipation. Peter ripped his mask off with his free hand, tossing it to the ground with a gasp as he stared down at his arm with visible unease.</p><p>"Ah," he breathed out shakily, moving his trembling hand slowly to reveal a gash streaking across his shoulder. A crimson stain grew around it, dripping into his palm.</p><p>Tony's world stopped spinning. He could've sworn pure ice was shooting through his veins and washing through every sensation in his body as Peter’s eyes widened with dread to meet his father’s petrified ones.</p><p>"Dad..."</p><p>
  <em>Prism-laced arrow. Blood. Peter.</em>
</p><p>Tony's breath hitched in his throat. Before he could really think, before he could really dwell anymore on the implications of the events unfolding before him, he was whipping around his shoulder and staring at Mallon on the opposite side of the glass, swallowing bile as pure red filled his gaze.</p><p>"<em>Hey</em>!" Tony roared, lifting a hand again and activating his repulsor ray threateningly. "Give me that medicine back! Now!"</p><p>"Idiot!" Mallon barked back, throwing the cooler off of the counter and collapsing to the ground.</p><p>“Give it back to me! <em>That’s my kid</em>!”</p><p>"There isn't enough in here to help anybody!"</p><p>Tony shook his head slowly, placing his other iron hand on the glass and watching in horror as Mallon gasped and heaved on the ground like a fish out of water, his head turning with a bone-chilling, blood-filled stare accompanying it.</p><p>"There'll never be enough," he said in a croaky whisper.</p><p>His pale lips parted lifelessly. Blood dripped from both of his eyes, and he was dead. </p><p>Tony's head continued to shake numbly as he turned back over his shoulder and stared at his son with dread, his chest and throat constricting.</p><p>"Dad, I don't-I-I can't-"</p><p>"Shh, you're alright."</p><p>"You can't touch me. Nobody-nobody touch me!"</p><p>"Peter, baby, you have to let us-"</p><p>"No! I have-I have super healing. I'll be fine, but I can't risk anyone else catching it."</p><p>"Peter..."</p><p>"Kid, enhanced people aren't immune to Prism," Rhodey informed him regretfully. "It was <em>made </em>for enhanced people."</p><p>Peter froze, his feverish stupor put on pause for a moment as his gaze found Tony's once more, searching it deliriously for an explanation. </p><p>"Wh-what?"</p><p>"You're gonna be okay. You're <em>fine</em>. You hear me, Peter?"</p><p>Peter didn't. He was falling to his knees, his breaths suddenly short and constricted.</p><p>"Oh...hell."</p><p>Peter collapsed the remaining few feet to the floor, landing limply on his side. He faintly heard his father's torturous shouts of pure panic before he succumbed to unconsciousness.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. with every heartbeat i have left</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>"You're gonna be okay. You're fine. You hear me, Peter?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Peter didn't. He was falling to his knees, his breaths suddenly short and constricted.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Oh...hell."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Peter collapsed the remaining few feet to the floor, landing limply on his side. He faintly heard his father's torturous shouts of pure panic before he succumbed to unconsciousness.</em>
</p><hr/><p>”No, no, no, no, <em>no-</em>!”</p><p>Tony rushed forward to catch Peter but was too late. He disengaged from his suit and slid to his knees, scooping his son up with trembling hands and terrified eyes as he attempted to shake his kid awake.</p><p>”Peter, baby, c’mon. Wake up!”</p><p>Peter’s head simply lolled back at the request. A little too close to dead for Tony’s liking.</p><p>Tony took Peter’s jaw in his quivering hand, holding his son’s face up to his.</p><p>”Dammit, Peter, please,” his voice shook with every word that escaped his throat, unable to keep out the pure terror as his one worst nightmare that day had come true and, with it, the one nightmare he had almost every night before he went to sleep.</p><p>Peter was not going to die. He couldn’t.</p><p>Tony shook his head as his throat constricted even more, reaching a still trembling hand over to hold Peter tighter only to grab Peter’s gaping wound on his shoulder, blood still spilling out of it onto the ground.</p><p>”Tony,” Rhodey started gently. “We’ve gotta get him to the jet. Bruce’ll know what to do until we can get him to Cho.”</p><p>Tony heard the words, but didn’t grace them with a verbal response. Instead, he cupped his son’s pale, unconscious face, glanced to the other side of the glass, and froze entirely.</p><p>Mallon’s dead body was still lying on the ground, sprawled after his fall. His head was tilted to stare right into Tony’s eyes. Blood was dripping from his pupils still.</p><p>Tony looked back to Peter and swallowed down bile before he let his suit materialize around him once more, scooping his son up in his arms and rising to his feet.</p><p>Wanda was watching the scene unfold with wide, rather guilty eyes as Vision clasped a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Rhodey was staring at his best friend holding a kid that was practically his nephew as life appeared to be slowly draining out of him.</p><p>Tony said nothing, turning on his heel and marching out of the room with his child held protectively in his arms.</p><p>”Get the virus,” he said over his shoulder. “And tear the place down finding the rest if you have to.”</p><p>Wanda bit her lip, turning on her shoulder and jogging to follow him.</p><p>”Tony, wait-“</p><p>”Wanda, I’ve got this.”</p><p>”Tony, I’m so sorry, if I had know about the arrows then I would’ve never-“</p><p>”I said I’ve got it!”</p><p>Wanda stopped dead in her tracks as Tony looked over his shoulder with a snarl, instantly checking himself and straightening. His eyes softened ever so slightly and a hint of an apology flashed Wanda’s way before he huffed, continuing his strides out of the building.</p><p>”You’ve done enough,” he said.</p><p>Wanda deflated, unsurprised by the feeling of Vision’s hand on her shoulder once more. She looked up to meet his eyes sadly.</p><p>”It wasn’t your fault, my love.”</p><p>”Kinda feels a lot like it was, Vis.”</p><p>Then, Vision said something so completely out of his character, something so uncharacteristic of him, that even Wanda did a double take in shock.</p><p>”I would rather it be him than you, Wanda.”</p><hr/><p>”I tried to stop him, I promise.”</p><p>Tony ignored Bruce’s apologies as he stomped up the ramp of the jet, eyes dead set on the cot to the right of the cabin.</p><p>“Oh, god, Tony, what the hell happened?”</p><p>”He's been infected.”</p><p>”He's been <em>what</em>? Tony-“</p><p>“He was hit. Prism laced weapons all around the damn place. He got hit in the arm.”</p><p>Bruce looked to Peter’s bloody arm, to Tony, to Peter’s arm, to Tony, the dread slowly but surely sinking in.</p><p>”Oh, hell, Tony.”</p><p>”Call Cho. Tell her to meet us at the Tower. Prep the medbay, get everyone she’s got.”</p><p>”Okay,” Bruce nodded frantically, digging his cell phone out of his pocket and shakily dialing a contact. </p><p>Tony laid Peter down on the cot gently, his suit disengaging again as his hand gently cradled the back of his kid’s head. Beads of sweat were already pouring down the side of Peter’s temple. </p><p>Tony swallowed thickly, brushing Peter’s damp curls off of his face before he was grabbing selfishly for one of Peter’s hands, holding it tight in his own trembling ones and bringing it to his lips to breathe it in, kiss it, hold it.</p><p>”Dad?”</p><p>Tony’s head snapped up with wide eyes at Peter’s mumble. Peter was sleepily watching him, unfazed by Tony’s terrified, panic-filled eyes.</p><p>”Peter,” Tony breathed out, reaching one hand over to brush Peter’s curls while still holding his hand. “H-hey, kiddo. You alright?”</p><p>”You look scared.”</p><p>Peter’s voice was hoarse and quiet, ripping another knife through Tony’s heart. Tony forced a smile, tears brimming his eyes as he shook his head.</p><p>”No, no, no. I don’t get scared, buddy. This is just, uh, normal...mission stuff.”</p><p>Peter gave Tony’s hand a reassuring squeeze, swallowing thickly and doing his best to keep eye contact.</p><p>”Sorry,” Peter breathed out. Tony was immediately shaking his head, but Peter was more persistent than that. “I’m sorry, Dad. I didn’t want you to get hurt. I just wanted to help.”</p><p>”Hey,” Tony gained a bit more control of his voice, returning Peter’s squeezing hand with as much force as he could muster. “You don’t apologize. Okay? You’re going to be fine. Cho’s gonna fix you up good as new. And then, you know what, screw it. I’ll buy you a dog.”</p><p>Peter huffed out a dry laugh, his eyes drooping shut. </p><p>“It can be one of those big ones, just like you want. We’re not getting a little one, that’s for damn sure. I’ve already got one little yapper in my house, I don’t need another.”</p><p>Tony knew Peter had already lost consciousness again and didn’t hear a word, but Tony’s words implied a future, and he would cling to that as long as possible.</p><p>”Tony,” Bruce said from behind, pocketing his phone. “I thought that Prism didn’t have any effect on enhanced people. Why is he like this?”</p><p>”It was made...<em>for </em>enhanced people.”</p><p>Bruce paled, his brow furrowed in confusion.</p><p>”Tony, who would do something like-“</p><p>”Who do you think?”</p><p>Bruce paused in thought for only a second before he had reached a conclusion, leaning back a bit in shock.</p><p>”No...”</p><p>”We got it.”</p><p>Bruce and Tony both turned over their shoulders toward the mouth of the jet, greeted by the sight of Rhodey, Wanda, and Vision boarding the cabin. Rhodey held up a cooler and waved it a bit before his suit was disengaging and he was jogging to the head of the plane.</p><p>”Let’s go,” Bruce clapped a hand on Tony’s shoulder and crossed to the first aid kid sealed on the wall that they kept for emergencies. “We don’t know how much time we have.”</p><p>Bruce immediately regretted his words, but Tony connected the dots painfully quick.</p><p>
  <em>We don’t know how much time we have until Peter dies.</em>
</p><p>Tony cleared his throat rather obnoxiously, pursing his lips as he continued running a trembling hand through Peter’s curls while squeezing his kid’s hand in the other.</p><p>”Tony,” Wanda started softly, a hand gently resting on his shoulder as she watched the scene unfold with a deep sense of sorrow. “Tony, I am so sorry. Really, I am.”</p><p>Tony looked back down at Peter for a moment. His sweet, innocent baby boy, balancing on a tight rope as sweat dripped down his skin and blood spilled out of his arm.</p><p>Yet, both begrudgingly and comfortingly, Tony knew that Peter wouldn’t have it any other way in a billion years. Peter would accept this fate over anyone else, would die before he let Wanda succumb to the virus.</p><p>Wanda had been in danger. There was no way for her to know that there were weapons hidden around the facility. Peter had used his powers for good, had sensed the danger from right there in the jet and had run inside without one second thought. Peter would’ve done it all over again, no matter how much Tony hated to admit it.</p><p>”I’m sorry, Wanda,” Tony said, reaching a hand up to take hers. “You had no way of knowing. It’s not your fault.”</p><p>Wanda stared at him in surprise but nodded in gratitude, a weight being visibly lifted off of her shoulders as she squeezed Tony’s hand and made her way to sit beside Vision. </p><p>The jet whirred to life and began takeoff. Tony, already succumbing to the effects of mind-numbing heartbreak, was ripping Peter’s glove off of his hand, discarding his web-shooter, and kissing his son’s fingertips, his pale skin scalding hot against Tony’s lips.</p><hr/><p>The mouth of the jet opened and suddenly the world was nothing but the panic and frenzy of doctors swarming around Peter.</p><p>Tony refused to let go of his son’s hand no matter where they took him. They wheeled him out of the jet and immediately began hooking him up to all sorts of machines and wires, prodding him with needles and lifting his head to wrap an oxygen mask around it. </p><p>“Be careful,” Tony found himself snapping out, unchecked and unfiltered. “He doesn’t like needles.”</p><p>”Tony,” Helen was saying from across the cot. “We’ve gotta take him to an O.R. to get this shoulder stitched up. We need you to let go.”</p><p>”He doesn’t like hospitals. Or needles, or scalpels. I’m not leaving him.”</p><p>”If you want him to live, you will.”</p><p>Tony snapped his head up to meet her gaze. Her words were harsh, but her eyes were pitiful as she studied the way worry was etched onto every crevice of Tony’s face, the way his eyebrows had been permanently knitted together in concern ever since his kid had been hit.</p><p>They made it to the door of the O.R. In all honesty, Tony hadn’t remembered ever leaving the jet, had no clue where Rhodey or the others had gone. All he knew was that someone was forcing Tony’s hand out of Peter’s and Tony’s heart was leaping to his throat as he watched the way his son’s bony hand fell limply on the gurney, empty and alone.</p><p>They pushed the gurney through the swinging doors of the O.R., swinging shut in Tony’s face. He watched through the window on the door in numbing horror as they lifted Peter off of the gurney in a sheet and rested him on the operating table. They were all shouting, all moving in one choreographed motion around the kid. </p><p>Someone was rubbing defibrillators together. Someone else was cutting Peter’s suit off of him. </p><p>Peter’s body jerked two feet in the air as the defibrillators whined and met his white-hot skin. </p><p>“Tony.”</p><p>Tony knew the voice but made no attempt to rip his gaze off of the window. </p><p>“No, no, no, no.”</p><p>”Tony, come on.”</p><p>A hand was wrapping itself around Tony’s bicep. </p><p>The defibrillators met Peter’s chest again and he was jerking in the air. Tony lifted his hand to the glass, his eyes searching feverishly for any sign of goodness, any sign of relief that the universe would offer him.</p><p>He found it in Helen. She was nodding, pointing across the room and pulling a mask over her face. Tony’s eyes trailed to Peter’s heart monitor, the rise and fall of the lifeline soothing him over even if it was only by a microscopic amount.</p><p>Tony finally turned his head. Steve was staring at him, searching his eyes and sending waves of comfort his way. Natasha stood behind him, a hand placed on Steve’s shoulder.</p><p>”We came as soon as we heard.”</p><p>Tony nodded numbly, allowing Steve to lead him out of the hallway and into the waiting room of the medbay. Steve sat him down on the couch, sitting himself down on one side while Natasha sat on the other.</p><p>”Tony,” Steve started cautiously, “what the hell happened out there?”</p><p>Tony didn’t look at him. He instead leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, holding his head in his hands and thinking about the various ways he was going to murder Thaddeus Ross with his bare hands.</p><hr/><p>That’s how he stayed for three and a half hours.</p><p>Three and a half hours of Rhodey coming to collect Steve and Natasha to explain the situation. Three and a half hours of hourly updates from Bruce that didn’t tell him much. Three and a half hours of reassuring should touches that he didn’t grace with eye contact.</p><p>More excruciatingly, it was three and a half hours of assuming the worst, of imagining his son bleeding from the eyes and burning all over, lifeless.</p><p>His <em>child</em>. His child that Thaddeus Ross tried to kill.</p><p>He was shaken from his rather murderous thoughts by the sound of Helen’s voice.</p><p>”Tony.”</p><p>Tony shot to his feet and stumbled a bit from a head rush, Helen’s hands on his forearms balancing him. He recalibrated, met Helen’s eyes, and searched them selfishly for relief from his hell.</p><p>”How-what-is he-?”</p><p>”Come see for yourself.”</p><p>Tony frowned at Helen’s warm smile, tilting his head in curiosity as she hooked her arm in his and led him out of the waiting room. He needed more, and she knew it, and she was keeping it from him.</p><p>They made their way through the medbay until they were suddenly stopping in front of what appeared to be a hospital room sealed off by a glass wall. It was one of their quarantine rooms, completely unused. </p><p>That wasn’t the part that threw Tony off guard. </p><p>What struck him was Peter. His son was in the hospital room, lying on the bed wearing electric blue scrubs and an oxygen mask. He was asleep.</p><p>He didn’t look like death anymore, simply put. He didn’t look utterly exhausted, didn’t look like he was two seconds from dying on the spot. </p><p>There was color on his face, youthfulness in his hair. </p><p>He was alive.</p><p>”He’s-he’s not-?”</p><p>”He’s got Prism,” Helen confirmed regretfully. “But he’s handling it like a champ. After we gave him some of the good stuff, he was nothing but a warrior in there. We’re gonna get started on the anti-viral as soon as possible. But he’ll be just fine until then. We wouldn’t expect anything less of him.”</p><p>Tony still wasn’t entirely convinced, not once taking his eyes off of his kid. </p><p>“Why is he, uh...why is he in there?”</p><p>Helen’s face fell, as if this were the piece of news she had dreaded delivering the most.</p><p>”As far as we can tell, Prism is incredibly contagious, Tony. Until he’s completely cured, he’s not allowed any physical contact.”</p><p>Tony knew it was too good to be true.</p><p>”Helen,” he huffed, arms crossed over his chest. “Come on. You’re telling me I can’t even-“</p><p>”I’m not making any exceptions on this. You’ve got a heart condition, not to mention no civilian could survive this. No hugging, no forehead kissing, no hand-holding, no touching. That’s that.”</p><p>Tony physically deflated in disappointment and agony. All he’d wanted to do for three and a half hours was hold his baby, and now he couldn’t even do that. </p><p>“When-when will he wake up?”</p><p>”Any minute now. I’ll leave you be. Tell FRIDAY if you need anything, and I’ll be here. Until then, I’ve got an antiviral to make.”</p><p>”Helen, wait.”</p><p>Tony grabbed her arm and kept her from going any further. She hummed, turning to face him once more.</p><p>”Mallon,” he swallowed thickly, “he said...he said there would never be enough. Of the antiviral. What if-“</p><p>”I’m not Mallon.”</p><p>And, well, Tony simply couldn’t argue with that logic.</p><p>He released his hold of her and let her go the remaining steps out of the medbay.</p><p>And suddenly, he was alone. He was what felt like millions of miles apart from his son, stuck with the excruciating ache in his heart that came from being so far from your child. He knew, consciously, that he was only a few feet.</p><p>But the glass wall was like a barrier never to be broken, forcing Tony to do nothing but stare at his kid and swallow around the uncomfortable lump in his throat as he imagined all the things Peter could possibly be feeling at that moment. </p><hr/><p>When Peter woke, he noticed with an ache that he was alone. </p><p>He’d been in this situation plenty of times. He’d been in the hospital bed, but he always felt the immediate comfort of Tony’s hand in his, felt the warmth of his father sleeping next to him, adamant on never leaving his side. </p><p>Instead, there was no one around him, no one in the room. Upon further investigation and, with a painful rise to a sitting position, there was a large, glass wall, where his father sat on the opposite side.</p><p>Peter frowned, drinking Tony in in full. He was sitting in a waiting room chair, his foot bouncing as he rested one elbow on his other knee with his head resting in his hand. He was rubbing the bridge of his nose tiredly before he was checking his watch.</p><p>Tony looked so out of it that, for some reason, Peter didn’t think he would respond to “dad.” He tore his oxygen mask off before he spoke. </p><p>”Tony.”</p><p>Tony’s head shot up at the small voice, bloodshot eyes meeting Peter’s and he was suddenly bolting to his feet, the chair skirting behind him. </p><p>Tony looked and felt utterly useless as he stood with nowhere to go.</p><p>”Peter.”</p><p>”Why am I...”</p><p>Peter looked down at his arm and noticed that it was in a sling, his shoulder wrapped in adhesive. It didn’t really hurt until he noticed it was all bandaged up because he was hissing, his face scrunched in pain. </p><p>“Peter? Are you okay?”</p><p>”Yeah, I just...what happened? Exactly?”</p><p>“Uh...what do you remember, Pete?”</p><p>”Um...well, I-I remember the mission? And you told me to stay on the jet.”</p><p>”Oh. Good. So you do remember that part.”</p><p>”...so I didn’t stay on the jet then.”</p><p>”Not in the slightest. You’re grounded, by the way.”</p><p>Peter’s lip quirked up at that. </p><p>“Am I allowed to get out of bed?”</p><p>“Uh...I mean, I’d rather you didn’t, kiddo, but if you’re gonna be...quarantined, for a while, then I guess it doesn’t matter.”</p><p>”Quarantined?”</p><p>Tony swallowed before dropping his head rather shamefully, collapsing back into his chair, and lifting his hand to the glass with a sigh.</p><p>”Come sit with me, Pete.”</p><p>Peter slowly climbed out of bed. Tony would drink this moment in forever, would remember the relief he felt when he saw his son standing on his own two feet alive. Infected, and wearing scrubs that were baggy as they draped on his frame, but alive.</p><p>Peter clambered toward his father with his socks and a sheet draped over his shoulders before he sat down in front of him, his legs crossed.</p><p>”What’s uh...what’s up?”</p><p>”You’ve got, um...you’ve got Prism, Peter.”</p><p>“Oh.”</p><p>A beat. Peter frowned in confusion, tilting his head.</p><p>”But-but it’s fine, right? I mean, my healing factor should take care of it?”</p><p>God, Tony couldn’t do this.</p><p>”I’m afraid your healing my factor may not do much in this instance.” </p><p>Tony turned over his shoulder at the sound of Helen’s voice coming from behind, ashamed by the way he melted a bit in relief. He felt weak, felt useless by the way he found no energy or courage in him to explain to his son that he could be dying.</p><p>”Hi, Doctor Cho. How, uh, how are you?”</p><p>Helen snickered at that, pulling up a chair from the back of the room and sitting beside Tony as she placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.</p><p>”I’m well, Peter, thank you. It’s you I’m a bit concerned about.”</p><p>”How so...?”</p><p>A pause from both Helen and Tony, who both exchanged pretty blatant skeptical glances before returning their attention to Peter. </p><p>“Dad, what’s goin’ on?”</p><p>”It, uh...it looks like Prism isn’t what we thought it was, Petey.”</p><p>”The Prism virus isn’t any ordinary virus. It was genetically designed to target a specific strand of DNA, such as that of Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner...”</p><p>Peter connected the dots painfully soon, his gaze trailing to Tony’s dreadfully.</p><p>”Spider-Man?”</p><p>Helen nodded, giving Tony’s shoulder a squeeze as the man’s head hung in defeat.</p><p>”It appears that way.”</p><p>”So...so Prism was made specifically for enhanced people? To get around our healing factor?”</p><p>”Exactly. And, because it can do such extensive damage to an individual with unique healing properties, there’s no telling what it could do to a civilian. Thus...”</p><p>She gestured to the glass wall separating them. Tony was staring down at his son with a longing gaze, his hand still pressed against the glass.</p><p>”Oh. Okay, so...am I going to...?”</p><p>”Die? Well, preferably no.”</p><p>Tony made a muffled, choked sound. Helen carried on.</p><p>”Bruce and I are working on an antiviral and modifying its properties to heal the body just as your healing factor would. This may take some time, but you’re the first enhanced person that we know of to have contracted the virus and you appear to be doing just fine. Your body shut down when it first settled into your system, but with any luck, that may have been the worst of it.”</p><p>”Wait,” Tony sat up at that, searching Cho’s eyes feverishly. “So-so he could be fine? I mean, the worst part is over?”</p><p>”I can’t make any promises, it’s mainly a theory, but most patients that we’ve treated are unable to speak or think clearly while infected with Prism, yet here Peter is doing both.”</p><p>Peter and Tony both visibly brightened at that as Tony leaned forward to the edge of his seat, offering the first genuine smile of the day.</p><p>”Alright, then, Petey. All you have to do now is get that poison out of your system. And make it quick, because I’m not a fan of this wall.”</p><p>”Yeah, okay,” Peter laughed. </p><p>Tony melted a bit. It was funny, how a mere few minutes ago Tony thought he wasn’t going to hear that ever again. Paranoia had numbed his mind more than ever before.</p><p>”I’ll leave you two be and get working on the antiviral. In the mean time, Peter, the more you rest, the quicker you’ll heal. Try not to let your dad rile you up too much, yeah?”</p><p>”Yeah,” Peter nodded. “Thank you, Doctor Cho. I really appreciate it.”</p><p>She winked, clapped Tony’s shoulder once more, and left the room.</p><p>Tony found himself humming in content as he met his son’s eyes again, though this time their stares held far less dread than before. Peter returned the adoration rather sheepishly, unable to hold the stare for long as he looked down and began picking at his sling.</p><p>”So, uh...did you ever find out who made the Prism thing?”</p><p>Oh, right. Ross.</p><p>Tony swallowed down the venom rising in his throat and blinked out the red in his vision as he remembered how badly he had wanted to strangle Ross with his bare hands, how easily he would take the man’s life without any hesitation.</p><p>“Don’t worry about that, kiddo. It doesn’t matter.”</p><p>Peter narrowed his eyes, unconvinced.</p><p>”Dad.”</p><p>”Peter.”</p><p>”Can you promise me something?”</p><p>”...Depends. What is it?”</p><p>”Can you promise me you won’t kill them?”</p><p>Tony started, his brow furrowed only for a moment before he understood exactly what his son meant and he was straightening uncomfortably in his chair. </p><p>“What do you mean?”</p><p>”Whoever did this to me, or whoever made the virus. Just promise me you won’t hurt them.”</p><p>”You said kill. Hurt is different.”</p><p>”<em>Tony</em>-“</p><p>”Petey, I promise I won’t kill them. Cross my heart.”</p><p>Peter sighed in defeat. He knew that was the best he was going to get out of him.</p><p>”You hungry, kiddo? Can I make you anything? Grilled cheese? Dinosaur chicken? Fruit?”</p><p>Peter glared at him for only a moment before his lip was quirking in an interested smile.</p><p>”...all of those sound great, actually.”</p><p>”Comin’ right up, then. I’ll be back. You sleep if you need to, alright squirt?”</p><p>”But I’m not tired-!”</p><p>”I don’t wanna hear it. Try to sleep, or I’ll feed you to the Hulk.”</p><p>Peter muffled a laugh as he watched his father go, standing with a grunt and making his way back to his bed.</p><hr/><p>Tony never made it back to Peter’s hospital room.</p><p>On his way to the kitchen, he was immediately met with the combined, furious energy of Steve, Natasha, Rhodey, and Wanda, all marching toward him determinedly. </p><p>“What the-“</p><p>”Thaddeus Ross tried to kill one of our own today,” Natasha had interrupted, tossing him his nanotechnology without any warning. “We can’t let him get away with it.”</p><p>Tony tilted his head in curiosity, a knowing relief slightly rushing through him.</p><p>”So,” Steve had said, clapping a hand on his shoulder, “let’s go take down the son of a bitch.”</p><p>”Guys,” Tony had breathed out, completely for the idea of making Ross beg for mercy though he tried to maintain a sense of level-headedness. “We’re talking about a secretary here. We can’t just go in guns ablazin’-“</p><p>”Tony,” Rhodey interrupted, fire in his gaze. “It doesn’t matter how high-profile the guy is. Prism was his idea. And it was made for my nephew. I let him off the hook for too much, and you can bet your ass I’m not about to let him off the hook for this.”</p><p>Tony watched as the others nodded in agreement. Wanda looked the most furious of all, her chest puffed out and her jaw raised as she watched him in anticipation.</p><p>”We got a tip that Ross is at his private estate. If we leave now, we might catch him, Tony.”</p><p>Tony bit his lip, checked his watch, and spoke.</p><p>”FRI, tell Peter I’ll be gone for a bit.”</p><p>”<em>Will do, Boss</em>.”</p><p>The others all nodded in satisfaction at the request, gestured forward, and made their way to the quinjet.</p><hr/><p>Peter waited on the edge of the bed for his dad to come back, but he never did. </p><p>FRIDAY had been the one to break the news that Tony would be “gone for a bit.” He knew what she meant right away and was instantly filled with regret.</p><p>Someone else ended up bringing his lunch, someone he didn’t know. The disdain he felt in his heart vanished at the sight of the plate presented to him; an assortment of chopped fruit with dinosaur chicken and a grilled cheese sandwich, cut into triangles just the way he liked it. Peter’s lip quirked in a smile as it was slid beneath the glass.</p><p>After his stomach was full and his body was a bit exhausted, the pain settled in.</p><p>It was sudden and in waves, but there nonetheless and unlike any pain he’d felt before. It was dull one second and throbbing the next in his shoulder, intensifying with every beat of his heart. </p><p>He shrugged it off. Cho said he’d already experienced the worst of it, and he wanted to believe her.</p><hr/><p>The entire flight to get to Ross, Tony thought of nothing but his son.</p><p>Peter. Sweet, innocent, selfless, loving Peter. A kid that Tony constantly wondered where he got his personality from, because he sure as hell didn’t get it from his dad.</p><p>That was another thing that the Starks never really talked about. Peter started the first nine years of his life without his father. He lived with his birth mother the first three years of his life, though after her death he was put in the system. It wasn’t until Peter’s estranged Aunt May found evidence that Tony Stark was his birth father that Peter finally came home.</p><p>When Tony found out he had a nine-year-old son in the system, he was outraged, terrified, confused, but overall, he was heartbroken. </p><p>Nine years he’d missed with this kid. Nine years this little boy had spent thinking that no one wanted him, that he’d grow out of the system. </p><p>That’s why Tony tried not to waste a second not with his son. It’s why Peter was the most miraculous and breathtaking thing to ever happen to Tony, was the most important thing in his life.</p><p>In the little time the two had known each other, they’d changed each other’s lives. Peter only just recently started calling Tony “dad,” though he usually used both the nickname and his real name interchangeably.</p><p>Tony’s entire world revolved around Peter the second he met the kid. They’d saved each other completely and entirely, had pulled each other from the ledge. More importantly, they’d created a life that was impossible to imagine without the other. </p><p>And the promises Tony made to the kid meant the world to him, but he wasn’t entirely sure he could keep himself from snapping Ross’s neck the second he saw him.</p><p>That’s how much Tony loved Peter. That’s how much his son meant to him.</p><p>He was vaguely aware in that moment that they’d long since landed the jet and were parked outside of an elaborate mansion in upstate New York. He’d only ever seen it in pictures he requested FRIDAY to pull up; after all, this was far from the first time Ross had someone threatened Tony Stark’s son. Tony was prepared to ambush Ross in his own home if he had to, always.</p><p>“Tones, maybe you should stay on the jet.”</p><p>Tony cleared his throat rather obnoxiously at the suggestion and rose to his feet to meet Rhodey’s gaze. Tony returned it with no emotion apart from the wildfire burning behind his eyes.</p><p>”I want to look him in the eye before I kill him, Rhodes.”</p><p>”<em>Boss</em>,” FRIDAY interrupted from overhead. “<em>You have an incoming call from Spider-Baby. Want me to put it through?</em>”</p><p>Nothing could pull you out of your murderous thoughts as quickly as <em>that </em>notification did. </p><p>Tony bit his lip as Rhodey held an understanding in his eyes, clapping a hand on Tony’s shoulder. </p><p>“Talk to your kid. We’ll wait.”</p><p>Tony nodded, stepping aside from his best friend and making his way to the head of the jet.</p><p>”Put it through to my cell, FRI.”</p><p>Tony pulled his phone up out of his pocket and brought it to his ear as the other side clicked.</p><p>”Hey there, kiddo. How’re you doing?”</p><p>”Oh, I’m g-good.”</p><p>Tony narrowed his eyes amusingly, sitting himself down in one of the pilot seats and staring out at the scenery in front of Ross’s house. </p><p>“Are you ‘g-good’? Did you need something?”</p><p>”No, just wanted to talk...Oh, I got the food you made me. Thanks, by the way.”</p><p>Tony frowned, his brow furrowed in confusion.</p><p>”I...never made you any food, kiddo. I never even made it to the kitchen. I’ve been beating myself up about it for the past thirty minutes.”</p><p>A pause on the other line, followed by a shuffle. Tony swallowed down the sense of foreboding rising in his throat, his knee bouncing in anticipation.</p><p>”Pete?”</p><p>”Sorry, I just...<em>ow</em>-“</p><p>”Peter, do you need Cho? What’s going on?”</p><p>”My shoulder really-<em>ah</em>-really hurts.”</p><p>”FRIDAY, can you please tell Cho to get to Peter’s room? Now?”</p><p>”<em>On it, Boss.</em>”</p><p>”Peter, kid, talk to me. What’s wrong?”</p><p>”Sorry,” Peter breathed out on the other line. Tony’s chest clenched so tight he was almost positive his heart ceased beating. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have called. I just...I don’t feel so good, Dad-“</p><p>A muffled bang reverberated on the other line, Peter’s speech cut short. Tony shot to his feet, chest heaving in panicked breaths.</p><p>”Peter? Peter!”</p><p>”<em>I lost connection, Boss. I don’t know-</em>”</p><p>FRIDAY was suddenly cut short, too. Tony held his breath, staring at his phone in bewilderment.</p><p>The others he had traveled with must have gone inside without him, because they were boarding the mouth of jet in a fury that immediately washed over every inch of the jet’s cabin.</p><p>”It was a trap,” Steve huffed, marching toward the front of the jet. “Ross isn’t here.”</p><p>”W-What? What do you mean it was a trap?”</p><p>”It’s not about where he led us to,” Natasha huffed. “It’s where he led us from.”</p><p>Tony’s face paled completely, his heart dropping to his stomach.</p><p>
  <em>Peter.</em>
</p><p>”Oh, my god.”</p><p>”Tones, we’ll get back there as soon as we can, alright?”</p><p>”Oh, my <em>god</em>-“</p><p>”Deep breaths. We’ll make sure FRIDAY keeps him safe, I promise.”</p><p>”FRIDAY is down,” Steve said from the front of the jet with a frown, looking over his shoulder. “Tony, what the hell happened?”</p><p>”I-I was on the phone with the kid and then he got hurt and the call cut off.”</p><p>Steve and Rhodey shared dreaded glances before Steve was firing up the jet and they were already hovering up off the ground.</p><p>”Rhodey,” Tony turned to face his best friend as bile rose in his throat. He couldn’t find it in himself to be calm, couldn’t even find it in himself to be angry at Ross. All he felt, all he knew was mind-numbing <em>worry</em>.</p><p>He met Rhodey’s gaze with glossy eyes that he tried to blink away, his jaw clenched and rigid.</p><p>“Rhodey, that’s my <em>kid</em>-“</p><p>”Nobody is dying today, Tones. That’s a promise.”</p><p>Tony wanted to believe him more than anything.</p><hr/><p>Peter wasn’t entirely sure what had happened from the moment he made the call to Tony and the moment it ended.</p><p>All he knew was that one moment he was talking to his dad and the next he was collapsing to the floor, a pain so excruciating shooting up his arm that he felt hot tears begin to spill over his eyes.</p><p>”Peter Stark,” a voice was saying above him, menacing and slow. “Spider-Man. Should’ve known, huh?”</p><p>Peter choked on a gasp as he reached a hand to cradle his shoulder and rolled onto his back, staring up at the silhouette above him.</p><p>”...Secretary Ross?”</p><p>”Not today, Pedro. Just Ross will do.”</p><p>Peter swallowed thickly around the uncomfortable lump in his throat as he watched Ross cross to the other side of the room and retrieve a familiar-looking arrow.</p><p>”Turns out you’re tougher than I thought, Stark. You got hit with just enough Prism to survive it. But you know why I can’t let that happen.”</p><p>Ross was suddenly shooting down toward Peter on one knee and stabbing Peter in the shoulder with the tip of the arrow, digging it in as far as he could.</p><p>Peter’s agonizing screams bounced off of the walls of the room, paralyzing him.</p><p>”But I think this extra dosage should do the trick, eh, Pedro?”</p><p>Peter bit his lip so hard he drew blood, letting out another strained moan of agony as Ross ripped the arrow out of his shoulder. </p><p>“You know, kid, I gotta give you credit. No one could make Stark go soft the way you did.”</p><p>Peter flipped onto his stomach and began crawling forward on his elbows, his legs dragging uselessly behind him.</p><p>”Of course, Afghanistan made him give up the whole...weapons of mass destruction gig. But you, Peter, made him a new man.”</p><p>Peter let out a strained sob, the blood resting on his lips splattering out in front of him in thick drops.</p><p>”You would understand all of this if you had the chance to grow old. I really am sorry, Peter, that you won’t.”</p><p>”Please,” Peter looked up at him, hot tears spilling down his cheeks. He felt so pathetic, so sad. He wanted to live. “I don’t want to die. I just want Tony. Please.”</p><p>Ross bent down to his knees and lifted Peter’s chin with his two fingers, eliciting forced eye contact.</p><p>”I’m sorry, little guy. My hands are tied.”</p><p>He yanked his fingers away from Peter’s chin and his head hit the floor. Ross grabbed his collar and Peter was being dragged.</p><p>Peter heard the cock of a gun. His head snapped up with a nauseating wave, his eyes growing wide at the sight on the other side of the glass.</p><p>Helen stood on the opposite side of the wall, a large gun held firmly in her grip as the butt of it rested on her shoulder. She showed no emotion, exhibited no sign of hesitating to blow a hole right through Ross’s face. Ross didn’t cave either, instead returning her energy in full.</p><p>Peter was yanked to his feet by the collar of his scrubs, used as a human shield. Helen’s eyes flashed in alarm, readjusting her grip on the weapon. </p><p>“Let him go, Mr. Secretary. No one needs to get hurt today.”</p><p>Ross said nothing as Peter’s exhausted body went boneless in his grip and he was suddenly struggling to hold him upright.</p><p>”Put the gun down, honey. I agree: no one needs to get hurt today.”</p><p>”Then why did you just infect my patient?”</p><p>”Helen,” Peter choked out, his eyelids threatening to seal themselves shut for good. “T-take the shot.”</p><p>Helen’s eyebrows knit together in concern, her clammy hands readjusting their grip on the object in her hands that went against everything she believed in.</p><p>”Peter, no.”</p><p>”Please, Helen.”</p><p>She bit her lip. Her hand readjusted on the trigger and, with much hesitation, she pulled.</p><p>The sound of glass shattering reverberated in every direction after the bullet left the barrel. Helen stumbled back from the force of it, watching in stupefied horror as the bullet lodged into Ross’s stomach.</p><p>But not before it went through Peter, his human shield.</p><p>Both of them were knocked to the ground by the force of the bullet. They sprawled out as shards of glass scattered about the hospital room and, suddenly, there was nothing but deafening silence. </p><p>Until the sound of footsteps sprinting down the hall made themselves known, frantic and worried and feverish. </p><p>“Helen? Helen, I heard a shot, what-?”</p><p>Tony stopped short, the sound of his shoes crunching on top of the glass ceasing for only a moment as he took the scene in.</p><p>Ross, bloody and dying on the floor.</p><p>
  <em>Peter, bloody and dying on the floor.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Peter!”</em>
</p><p>That crunching sound came back with a vengeance and bounced around the walls of Peter’s skull before he was being lifted gently by the shoulders and cradled in warm, familiar arms. Warm hands cupped his face like it was made of glass.</p><p>”Peter! Peter, baby, oh, my <em>god</em>-“</p><p>Peter choked a bit on blood again. He didn’t know where it was coming from that time.</p><p>”Baby, hey, you’re okay, you’re okay.”</p><p>”Dad.”</p><p>It was barely above a whisper. Tony clung to it like a lifeline.</p><p>”Oh, Peter, please, just hold on, <em>please</em>, baby-“</p><p>Peter couldn’t. He didn’t. One second, he was being soothed by the warm embrace of Tony’s hold, by his voice, and the next, he was succumbing to unconsciousness.</p><p>In a more real sense, he was succumbing to Prism, shock, and a gunshot, but in a more ethereal sense, he was succumbing to the comforting tone of Tony’s voice, the way it reassured both himself and Peter that he would make it out of this alive.</p><p>He vaguely heard Tony’s screams and insistence that Peter, his son, his baby, his kid, wasn’t allowed to die. It was a comforting last thought. </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. i'll give you everything i have</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>yeah i've been watching 911 lone star and greys anatomy, what about it</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Someone was sitting next to him on the floor.</p><p>Subconsciously, he knew who. He could feel it in the air they brought with them, the bit of hope they brought fluttering into his chest. It didn't make it any easier, didn't soothe the throbbing ache in his chest that had pulsated ever since he saw his baby boy bleeding out on the ground from a gunshot among shards of glass, but it was there, and he clung to it selfishly.</p><p>They rubbed his back in circles. With a shaky breath, Tony lifted his head, staring into Pepper's eyes with a fire behind his own tear-filled ones.</p><p>Or, at least, he thought it was a fire. Instead, it was more of a dim, dying spark, cold and miserable.</p><p>"I flew in as soon as I heard."</p><p>He didn't say anything, only accepting with overwhelming gratitude the way her voice pulled him stumbling through the forest of thoughts in his mind. She was staring at him, her eyes heavy and downcast. He got lost in them fast, instead staring straight ahead.</p><p>"She threw me out." Tony gestured to the operating room door in front of them, locked shut. Somewhere, in one of Tony Stark's multi-million dollar medbay operating rooms, a different set of doctors were operating on Thaddeus Ross, the very man that had carefully curated a virus explicitly targeted to people like his kid.</p><p>The very thought made Tony's stomach turn and turn, his lip twitching in disgust and repugnance.</p><p>"Yeah," Pepper hummed, adjusting to mirror Tony's sitting position. He sat against the wall, hugging his knees to his chest. His hair, left unkempt for nearly two days, began to curl and stick out every which way, a few sadder curls hanging lifelessly in front of his tear-stained eyes like dead flowers. He glanced her way for a fraction of a second, wiping briefly under his eyes though the action proved useless as another set of tears quickly took their place.</p><p>"What do you need?"</p><p>Tony met her gaze again at that, red-rimmed eyes blinking tiredly at her as he leaned his head back against the wall and watched her worry. Whether for Peter or for Tony, he wasn't sure, but her ability to both worry yet at the same time pour comfort into him absolutely floored the man. </p><p>"I need my kid."</p><p>Her gaze softened, all-knowing and sympathetic. She offered a melancholy smile, lifting a hand up to squeeze his arm before cupping the back of his neck and kissing his forehead. He closed his eyes, his breaths broken and fragmented.</p><p>"Helen won't rest until he's okay, Tony."</p><p>Tony could only blink weakly. Whether or not he believed her was a mystery, her voice simply a symphony amidst the chaos.</p><p>He met her eyes once more, feeling more pathetic and pitiful than he ever had in his life as he took her hand in his, voice unsteady and trembling.</p><p>"Stay with me," he begged. "Please."</p><p>She nodded. He let out a breath, rested his head on her shoulder, and allowed her to soothe him to sleep as she pet his disheveled curls.</p><p>They looked like Peter's. She looked away, dismayed.</p><hr/><p>Pepper stayed with Tony until he fell asleep, allowing Steve to scoop him up off of the floor and relocate him to a couch in the waiting room. Steve had insisted on putting him in a bed, though Pepper eventually convinced him that Tony wouldn't be able to rest too far from Peter. Steve ultimately complied, draping a sheet over Tony's shoulders and allowing him to rest.</p><p>The constant ache in Tony's chest woke him only thirty minutes later. </p><p>His head and joints screamed in protest as he forced himself up into a sitting position, only three thoughts running through his brain.</p><p>Life, death, Peter.</p><p>Peter, in an operating room, balancing himself on a tightrope between life and death. Peter, probably begging for his dad when Thaddeus Ross broke into his hospital room and stabbed him in the arm with Prism. Peter, only fifteen, left with no choice but to plead Helen Cho, a doctor, to shoot him in order to take down Ross. Peter, weak and succumbing to shock and a gunshot and the Prism virus while Ross succumbed to only one of those.</p><p>But that was fine, at least for then. Tony would make sure Ross bled and begged for mercy another day, by his own hands. </p><p>His head swam as he found it in him to rise to his feet, scanning the room with a furrowed brow and burning eyes. It eventually aligned to be one of the medbay waiting rooms, the antiseptic scent enough of a giveaway though the familiar, obnoxious ticking of the clock on the wall across from him was admittedly the element that kicked his memory into motion.</p><p>The clock itself meant nothing to him then. He'd stop paying attention to the time the second his kid got infected. For all he knew, that was a week ago. He probably even would've believed someone if they told him he'd just slept for twelve hours.</p><p>Which is why he assumed he had some sort of sixth sense that woke him, because as soon as he made to walk back toward the O.R., Cho was walking into the waiting room, still in her scrubs and surgical cap.</p><p>She appeared bleak and dejected. Tony swallowed hard, stepping forward until they were only a foot apart.</p><p>"How-how bad is...Cho, is he-?"</p><p>"He's alive," Cho nodded. Tony let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding, closing his eyes and placing a steadying hand on his heart. He could sense the "but" coming soon after, yet he decided to live ignorantly in the nauseating relief of the moment for as long as the universe would let him.</p><p>"Is he going to be okay?"</p><p>Cho thought for a moment, the despondency in her expression and posture painfully transparent. </p><p>"The bullet wound didn't hit any critical organs. I need you to know, Tony, that if it had been anyone else, I wouldn't have done it. Ross was going to let Peter die in there of Prism and I knew that if I didn't hit his heart or his spine when I fired that he would-"</p><p>"Helen."</p><p>Cho took in a breath. She reeked of guilt, her entirely posture slumped dolefully. It looked entirely wrong on her, as if she had been possessed.</p><p>"Just...tell me that my son is okay. I forgive you, I really do, but I just...just tell me. Is he going to be okay?"</p><p>She paused again in thought, her mouth dry as she swallowed uncomfortably. </p><p>"His body is weak. Prism is already taking its toll on his healing factor. The gunshot wound may take twice as long to heal, and with the anti-viral already so short in supply as it is..."</p><p>Tony watched her carefully, studied the way her expression continued to morph from grim to grave, sometimes both at the same time. He held his breath again, his jaw clenched.</p><p>"If we can't produce enough antiviral to treat him in the next twenty-four hours, then..."</p><p>Sheer terror was already etching itself onto every crevice, every line of Tony's face before she could even finish her sentence, her implications loud and clear.</p><p>"Then you have to go sit with him. Hold him, contagious or not, and help him go."</p><hr/><p>Tony had felt, in a word, vacant.</p><p>He'd thrown up the remaining contents in his stomach only a few minutes after in the bathroom, splashing cold water on his face. He slammed the palms of his hands down on the washbasin and hung his head for a few seconds, watching the water spill down into the drain before he twisted the faucet off and met his own gaze in the mirror before him.</p><p>He had always been aware of it subconsciously, but with everything on the line, he noticed with a skip of his heart how striking his resemblance was to his son. </p><p>Peter looked a lot more like his mom, though he shared the same eyes with his dad. That was the most remarkable similarity between the two, complemented by their messy curls though Tony was usually the one gelling his up so that he didn't look like a hormonal teenager the way he did then.</p><p>He decided then that he would rather break every mirror he came across or take a missile to the face than have to stare at the ghost of his dead son every time he was met with his own reflection.</p><hr/><p>The time came to sit with him. </p><p>Tony had been told what that would mean, what the implications were. That Peter didn't have the time or the luxury to wait around for the antiviral to be mass-produced in the next twenty-four hours, that he couldn't even breathe on his own. He had some sort of tube shoved down his throat doing that for him.</p><p>He could've done without the gory explanation. He could've done without the <em>entire damn situation</em>.</p><p>But it looked like no one was getting what they wanted that day.</p><p>Except, of course, <em>Thaddeus fucking Ross</em>.</p><p>And that was the story of how Tony ended up standing in front of Ross's room instead of Peter's, spending his son's last few moments wallowing in his own wrath.</p><p>Tony always knew to deal with his grief by forgetting. He knew to get drunk, to throw lavish parties that drowned out the noises in his head, and to deal with his mourning by bargaining: a life for a life.</p><p>Thaddeus Ross was going to die with Tony's twisted, depressed face being the last thing he saw. </p><p>He clicked the doorknob and shoved the door open, eyes immediately falling upon the figure laying asleep in the hospital bed. Ross's left wrist was cuffed to the rail of the bed, his head lolled to the side unconscious. His other arm was in a sling, his abdomen wrapped in an adhesive.</p><p>He didn't deserve any of it. The bed, the pillow, the damn <em>blanket</em>. He deserved to have died among those glass shards on the floor of Peter's hospital room. Better yet, he deserved to have died by Tony's hand when he had flown to Ross's private estate, even if it had been a trap.</p><p>Ross should have been there, dead.</p><p>But he was here instead, alive. </p><p>Tony walked forward carefully, jaw clenched until, finally, he was looming over Ross's body, bilious and brooding. He didn't flinch as Ross's eyes fluttered open and his mouth twisted into a frown, the gears turning in his head as he eventually found Tony's heavy eyes.</p><p>His frown twisted again into a sickening smile. Tony's blood boiled.</p><p>"Stark," he rasped, mouth dry.</p><p>Tony was unmoving, akin to a robot. Ross shrank a bit into himself as subtly as possible, but Tony noticed.</p><p>"Saw that you fell for my...diversion. Didn't think you would, but, uh...looks like your kid might've clouded your judgment a little bit."</p><p>Tony said nothing, his eyebrow twitching up as his entire body practically seething in anger. His mouth rested in a thin line, unmoving. </p><p>"Jesus." Ross snorted, shaking his head and turning away. "You about to pop a circuit?"</p><p>"Why did you do it?"</p><p>Tony's voice was nothing but a biting whisper, barely audible. His red-rimmed eyes stayed glued venomously to Ross's, his fists clenched at his sides.</p><p>"Of course you backed out of the accords. Your own son is one of them."</p><p>"Don't bullshit me."</p><p>Tony shot down like a viper and wrapped a hand around Ross's neck, squeezing just enough to keep him suspending in excruciating pain between life and death. Ross's eyes bulged, but the amusement lingered.</p><p>"The world won't be surprised," Ross choked out, lip quirking up in a smile, "when-when they learn that...Tony Stark's own son is a weapon of mass destruction. Just like his old man."</p><p>"I <em>know </em>the president didn't send you to do this. This is bigger than the United Nations, and you know it. What the hell is your game here, huh? Is this some kind of sick, twisted belief of yours? Are you part of one of those extremist cults? Huh?"</p><p>"This is about <em>repentance</em>," Ross was suddenly snapping, fighting against his cuffed hand and slung arm. Tony's eyes widened a bit in shock as Ross finally matched the forest fire behind Tony's eyes with one of his own. "We as humans can no longer allow less-than-humans to frolic about our holy Earth. Your boy isn't some innocent little kid. He's a savage, Stark."</p><p>Something feral coursed through Tony's veins and he was seeing nothing but <em>r</em><em>ed</em> as he allowed his watch to morph into an iron gauntlet, the sound of his repulsor ray whirring to life. He hovered it a mere few inches from Ross's pale, purple face.</p><p>"I don't know how you fit your head in that mop bucket of a helmet, Stark. These inhumans should not be allowed to walk freely, to breathe our air and share our sunlight."</p><p>Tony's anger remained but fear was seeping into it, his mouth dry in disgust.</p><p>This was his <em>kid</em>, living in this man's head.</p><p>"They have to be purged from the planet. We are the atonement. You wonder why Prism can't be cured. Death is the cure, Stark. <em>We </em>are the cure."</p><p>"Oh, my <em>god</em>."</p><p>"He's not a hero. He's not an Avenger. He's a plague. And for that, he deserves to die."</p><p>A million thoughts were swimming around Tony's head at lightning speed, though anger was no longer at the forefront. Horror, shock, disgust, and repugnance were the first thoughts that came to mind as he looked into the eyes of an unsalvageable man, brainwashed and lost. He swallowed down vomit, closing his eyes for a moment too long.</p><p>Ross thought he was right. He thought he was a man of faith.</p><p>And for <em>that</em>, Tony thought darkly, he deserved to die.</p><p>His grip on Ross's throat tightened. His knuckles turned white as he closed the man's airway. His repulsor ray whirred to life again, ready to kill-</p><p>"Tony!"</p><p>The sound of clicking heels stopped only a few feet away from Tony and he was turning over his shoulder with a snarl, gaze immediately softening when his eyes found Pepper's.</p><p>"P-Pep? What're you-"</p><p>"Tony, get off of him."</p><p>Tony blinked, turning back and staring down at the man's life held quite literally in his hands. </p><p>He turned to Pepper again. Pepper's eyes, her spirit reminded him so strongly of Peter, that his hold on Ross loosened, and he stumbled back.</p><p>Ross's chokes echoed around the room. Pepper was walking toward him cautiously, forehead knotted in concern as she brought to hands to cup Tony's face and hold it up to face her. Concern was etched on her face as she studied him sadly.</p><p>"This isn't the answer."</p><p>He clenched his jaw and bit his tongue, seething. He could've sworn he was breathing out fire.</p><p>Yet his words contradicted his thoughts, small and quiet and miserable.</p><p>"He killed my baby."</p><p>"Peter is alive, Tony."</p><p>Tony knew that, subconsciously. He knew that Peter was alive, yet for some reason, he had chosen only to focus on what Peter <em>would </em>be in a matter of hours, what he would become when he eventually succumbed to the effects of Prism. </p><p>"I know what you're doing," Pepper said wistfully, brushing a thumb across his cheek and catching a tear. "But Tony, holding him won't be nearly as painful as being apart from him must be."</p><p>He met her eyes. She smiled grievously at him, her eyes filming over with fresh tears. </p><p>"It's time to hold him. He's going, Tony."</p><p>Tony closed his eyes. A sad, choked sob barely escaped his throat.</p><p>"Hold him and help him go."</p><hr/><p>Pepper led him to Peter's room like he was a zombie.</p><p>She never took him inside. She instead stood him in front of his son's door, kissed his cheek, and told him to go inside when he was ready.</p><p><em>How ridiculous</em>.</p><p>He wasn't sure what exactly it was that was so ridiculous. Maybe it was the fact that he had pictured this moment happening for years, had likely manifested it. His son had missed out on so much, even after Tony had done everything in his power to keep his kid alive, but somehow, they still ended up here.</p><p>Footsteps echoed to his left. He lazily turned his head toward the noise, desperate for an escape. </p><p>Steve, Natasha, Wanda, Vision, and Rhodey were walking toward him, dejected and dour. Tony held his breath.</p><p>Somehow, seeing Rhodey with tears barely glossing his eyes, with his forehead knotted with worry, made it <em>real</em>.</p><p>"Go ahead," Rhodey smiled softly at him, clapping him on the shoulder. "We'll wait for you."</p><p><em>You'll wait for me</em>. </p><p>And god, it was real then. They'd wait for him while he held his kid and helped him <em>go</em>. Go, forever.</p><p>Tony said nothing. He stepped forward, clicked the doorknob, paused, and pushed it open.</p><p>The light in the room was dim, the air somber. He shut the door behind him like he was sealing his fate, closing his eyes for only a second before he was staring at the person in the bed like they were the saddest miracle to ever grace the planet.</p><p>Peter was swallowed whole by blankets and pillows. He was hooked up to every machine imaginable, wires and tubes spilling in and out of him. His arm was in a sling and his abdomen was wrapped in adhesive, just like Ross except this time Tony wasn't analyzing every detail of him with hatred and animosity.</p><p>He was studying him painfully, pretending it wasn't real. He was thinking about how ridiculously <em>stupid </em>it was that he had already picked the breed of dog he was going to pick up for Peter's birthday. He was thinking about how laughably awful it was that he'd taken every precaution, had devoted his life to a kid he hadn't even known existed until a few years ago, only to help him go, to guide him into <em>death</em>.</p><p>It hadn't been enough. Not enough prevention, not enough caution, not enough time. Peter was still dying.</p><p>He opted for the chair on Peter's left, sinking into it dejectedly. He knew, eventually, he'd end up cradling his kid, sitting right there in the bed with him.</p><p>He decided to live in ignorant bliss for only a moment longer, as if this was just another silly mission gone wrong. As if life wasn't balancing on a tightrope before his eyes.</p><p>"The whole team's out there."</p><p>Tony's voice was quiet but deafening. He stared at Peter, basked in the steady beeping of his heart monitor. A glance to the giant tube protruding out of Peter's mouth had him looking away again.</p><p>"They're gonna wait out there until you wake up. I am too."</p><p>Peter's chest rose and fell. His skin was a dangerous, pale yellow. Tony swallowed bile and continued on.</p><p>"Apparently your Aunt May called. That was a fun conversation. For Pepper, at least. Not for me."</p><p>The steady sound of artificial breaths echoed in the room. Tony spoke over it.</p><p>"According to Pep, uh...May went into full doctor mode. The good news, actually, is the bullet was through and through, obviously. Didn't hit anything important, so you can just, uh...you know. Go ahead and get that healed right quick. And the poison thing is just a matter of rounding up enough Benedryl to water it down. So, you know, just hang in there, kid. Won't be long now."</p><p><em>Won't be long at all</em>.</p><p>Tony hung his head. When he looked up again, tears were spilling over his red-rimmed eyes, fresh and raw. He reached a hand up and pet Peter's forehead, his hand immediately wet with sweat as he brushed lifeless curls out of his kid's face. </p><p>"...Hey, Peter?"</p><p>Silence, of course. Tony swallowed, reaching over to grab Peter's hand. He cupped it in place with his other, holding his kid's bony, cold hand between his two warm ones.</p><p>"Kid, if you can hear me, I want you to squeeze my hand. Okay?"</p><p>Tony waited. He squeezed Peter's hand between his own a few times, waiting on the edge of his seat to feel something in return.</p><p>"...FRIDAY?"</p><p>"Life functions critical."</p><p>Tony sniffled, resting his head on the edge of the mattress with his eyes squeezed shut for only a moment before, finally, he was rising from his seat.</p><p>He tucked his hand behind Peter's neck and lifted him, ignoring the way Peter's head lolled sickeningly back, lifeless. He scooped another arm under his kid's knees, crawled into the bed, and held him.</p><p>Tony never got to hold Peter when he was a baby in the hospital. Maybe this was the universe's sick way of answering his prayers.</p><p>"Easy does it." Tony adjusted until he assumed Peter was comfortable, mindful of his arm and his gunshot. Peter was light, but <em>heavy</em>. Tony nodded to himself, craning his head down to look at his kid.</p><p>Peter had lost more than any other kid his age would deem fair. He didn't deserve to lose his life, too.</p><p>"It's okay," Tony choked out, his lip quivering uncontrollably as he lifted his son's head and planted a kiss on his forehead. His skin was white-hot to the touch.</p><p>"It's okay, baby. You can go. You can go. It's okay."</p><p>Another surge of agony coursed through him as he wept into Peter's tufts of hair. He ran his fingers through them, lost in them.</p><p>"You can go, Peter. I won't be mad."</p><p>He brought him as close as he could. He thought of all the times Peter had fallen asleep in his arms on the couch, all the times he'd dozed off while they worked in the lab. Tony used to talk to himself for several minutes at a time before FRIDAY would tell him his kid had conked out a long time ago, or he would turn over his shoulder and discover it himself.</p><p>He thought of that day he went to pick Peter up after he'd spent six years in the system, thinking he was unwanted and undesired. He remembered drilling into the kid's brain for years that Peter was the most remarkable, breathtaking, precious thing to ever happen to him, that he wouldn't trade him for the world. He remembered the day Peter finally called Tony 'Dad,' remembered the day Peter fell deathly ill after a field trip to Oscorp, remembered watching in horror as Peter swung around the city in a scrappy, homemade costume.</p><p><em>Oh, what a mischief you would bring</em>.</p><p>He didn't bother stifling his cries, his heart clenched and his throat tight. He rested a hand on Peter's chest, the rise and fall only sending more anguish coursing through him yet he found himself clinging to it anyway.</p><p>"Peter," his voice strained in the back of his throat, "I'm so sorry. I love you, Peter. I love you so, so, so much. I always will."</p><p>"I've got it!" </p><p>Tony startled, his arms pulling Peter closer to his chest protectively as Helen and Bruce both burst into the room with wide eyes and medical masks on, the hope they brought with them nauseating.</p><p>"W-What?"</p><p>"Tony, I've got it." Bruce held up two vials, filled to the top with a blue substance. It sloshed in its container, glistening in the light.</p><p>"We can't waste any more time," Cho demanded, marching toward the bed. "Tony, lay him down. Bruce, administer the antiviral."</p><p>Tony looked down at his son for only a moment, hope flashing across his eyes before he was pressing another kiss to Peter's forehead and blindly obeying Cho's every command.</p><p>He climbed out of the bed and gently laid Peter back onto the mattress. He rather mechanically lifted Peter's head and placed a pillow beneath him, draping his sheet and blanket back over his body and propping his arm upon another pillow delicately. He cupped his son's face as Bruce fiddled with Peter's IV.</p><p>"We're not too late," Cho repeated under her breath, hastily lifting the lid of Peter's eye and flashing a light into it.</p><p>Tony's heart dropped right into the pit of his stomach as he stared at Peter's eyeball, his brown irises surrounded by a ring of blood.</p><p>Prism's most notorious trait was, of course, its ability to make its victims bleed from their eyes.</p><p>"Peter..." Tony sat down in there chair beside his son and took his hand selfishly in his own, gushing fierce and unadulterated love as he pressed a firm kiss to Peter's white-hot hand. "It's gonna be okay, baby. You're gonna be okay."</p><p>Peter's heart monitor began to blare. The world was suddenly nothing but a distorted echo of noise, filtering in and out of existence as someone was pulling Tony off of his kid, prying his hands away. </p><p>"Starting C.P.R.."</p><p>"Push .35 of epi."</p><p>"Get me a bicarb!"</p><p>More doctors were running in with medical masks on. Tony turned over his shoulder to discover that it was Rhodey who was pulling him away from the bed.</p><p>"C'mon, Tones. Let them work."</p><p>"No, wait-"</p><p>"He's gonna be okay, but we gotta go, man."</p><p>Tony wanted to believe him. He allowed himself to be led out of the room, the door slamming behind their backs as he met the stares of his found family and swallowed around the uncomfortable lump in his throat.</p><p>He closed his eyes to excuse himself from their gazes, though he found that the image of Peter's blood-filled irises tattooed to the back of his eyelids was a far less appealing sight.</p><hr/><p>Hot water trickled out from the showerhead and dribbled down Tony's body.</p><p>They said that he had to clean himself to assure that he didn't catch Prism by some twisted chance of fate, that he didn't fall victim to Peter's current circumstances. As much as he insisted he deserved it, he eventually complied, glaring down at the bottles of unscented soap equivalent to a bucket of bleach. </p><p>He could do nothing but stand and stare ahead at the shower tiles as drops of water rested on his eyelashes. </p><p>Rhodey had said Peter was going to be okay. Helen had said that it wasn't too late. </p><p>He clung to it like a lifeline. Whether or not they were right, he honestly didn't know.</p><hr/><p>They told him that Peter was in a level two coma.</p><p>They wouldn't know about any brain issues until Peter woke, if he ever did. </p><p>Steve had told him not to worry, that a kid as bright and intelligent as Peter would pull through. </p><p>Tony had only nodded then, admittedly absent from reality as he could only dwell that Helen only ever referred to Peter waking as a slim to none possibility.</p><p><em>If </em>he woke.</p><p>Tony closed his eyes again, vacant and far-away.</p><hr/><p>Cho leaned against the doorframe with a sigh, her arms crossed as she watched Peter and Tony sleep.</p><p>Tony's hair was still damp as his head rested on the hospital mattress and he held Peter's hand in his own. After the Prism was out of his system, Peter was no longer deemed toxic or quarantined, though regardless Tony wouldn't have cared. He'd be holding his kid anyway, petting his curls and assuring him that he'd be okay, even if the assurances were more for himself.</p><p>Steve approached her from behind, offering a coffee cup her way. She hummed in gratitude and took it, content as he leaned against the other side of the doorframe and sipped a cup of his own.</p><p>"How is he?"</p><p>"Which one?"</p><p>They both laughed briefly at that. She sighed, taking a sip and smiling fondly.</p><p>"We were...so late getting that antiviral. Between the bullet and the shock and the poison and the reperfusion coding...we don't know what kind of damage was done to his brain. We don't even know if he's gonna wake up."</p><p>Steve glanced her way for a moment, sympathetic. His lip quirked in a smile as he brought a hand to her shoulder, squeezing it reassuringly.</p><p>"I don't know what this family would do without you."</p><p>She narrowed his eyes and met his gaze, disbelief etched on her face. </p><p>"I think the Starks would manage just fine."</p><p>"Not the Starks."</p><p>She tilted her head curiously as Steve's smile morphed into something more knowing, more enamored.</p><p>"This family. <em>Our</em> family."</p><hr/><p>Tony was holding his kid's hand when Peter started choking.</p><p>"<em>Helen</em>!"</p><p>Tony stuck his head out of the threshold of the hospital room, eyes wide with horror until, finally, he spotted Cho sprinting down the hallway, lurching toward him in alert.</p><p>"What happened?"</p><p>"He's choking, Helen. He's <em>choking</em>."</p><p>Helen paused. Tony blinked, head shooting back toward his kid before staring at her in bewilderment.</p><p>"Helen! <em>Choking</em>! Now!"</p><p>"He's fighting his ventilator."</p><p>"...What?"</p><p>"He's fighting his ventilator! He's trying to breathe on his own."</p><p>Tony numbly moved out of the way as Helen brushed herself past him, jogging to Peter's bed. She began the process of removing the giant tube running out of his mouth. Tony brought a fist to cover his mouth in disgust as she pulled it out slowly before, finally, it was out. Peter opened and closed his mouth a few times in discomfort, his brow furrowed. </p><p>"Could be any minute now," Helen deduced hopefully, nodding Tony's way. He nodded numbly back, still processing the scene unfolding before him before he was making strides toward his kid again and sitting himself down next to him, beyond relieved to be rid of the deafening sound of artificial breaths. </p><p><em>Any minute</em>, Tony thought.</p><p>She probably shouldn't have told him that with such certainty.</p><hr/><p>It had been eighteen hours.</p><p>Helen and Bruce had told him not to count the hours, but he found himself doing so anyway, even down to the second. He would pray to whichever alien god would listen, would kiss Peter's fingertips, squeeze his hand, try again. One continuous, agonizing cycle of torture.</p><p>They had told him he may not ever wake, yet he was breathing on his own. To that, he said bullshit. Normally, he was a man that insisted on knowing how things worked, had even made Yinsen walk him through the gory details on how the arc reactor in his chest was keeping the shrapnel from his heart. He liked to be informed, liked to have a say.</p><p>Yet, when the doctors had tried to explain to him that Peter's brain may not allow him to wake, he had cast it away, had insisted with finality that his beautiful, strong, resilient kid would wake up in no time. There was no need to fuss about something that was only speculation.</p><p>After eighteen hours, however, he wasn't so sure.</p><p>Until, of course, his son's eyes fluttered open.</p><p>Tony's mouth went dry and his heart dropped as he froze, watching as Peter furrowed his brow and squinted his eyes at the harsh light showering down on him.</p><p>"Lights, FRI."</p><p>"On it."</p><p>The lights dimmed to an almost nonexistent glow, enough to illuminate Peter's precious face in Tony's eyes as his nose scrunched and he found it in himself to meet his father's eyes, confused and perplexed and relieved and scared.</p><p>"What's-Dad, where-"</p><p>"Shh, hey." Tony brought a reassuring hand up to cup his kid's face, his eyebrows knitted together in concern. "Pete, kiddo, we're in the medbay, okay? You're perfectly fine. Everything's okay."</p><p>Peter blinked, recalibrating himself until he met Tony's gaze again and watched as his face morphed from hopeful to terrified to fierce to nauseatingly <em>relieved</em>. </p><p>"Kid?"</p><p>"...Ouch."</p><p>Tony let out an exhausted laugh, smiling from ear to ear as he let out heaved breaths and watched him in disbelief. He was petting Peter's curls, staring at him like he was a breathtaking marvel, like he was an impossible miracle.</p><p>Tony found himself lurching forward and cradling Peter in his arms before the kid could stare ahead stupefied any longer, staring up at the ceiling and thanking whatever god he had just gotten through to before he clapped his kid on the back and squeezed him tighter.</p><p>"<em>Ouch</em>."</p><p>"I know."</p><p>Peter wrapped his good arm around Tony's back and took in a fistful of his sweatshirt, finding a bit of confused relief in himself as he breathed Tony in and closed his eyes, content and safe and protected.</p><p>Tony loved him. Tony loved him unconditionally, recklessly, endlessly. Tony loved him to the ends of the earth, loved him like there was no tomorrow because, in his world, there was no promise of sunrise a majority of the time. </p><p>He didn't know what he did to deserve the sunrise before him, held protectively in his arms. </p>
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